Seven Last Words - Clover Sites

Seven Last Words

of Christ from the Cross

A Devotional Bible Study on the Passion of Christ for Holy Week and Good Friday Services

Ludomir Slendinski (Polish painter, 1889-1980), "Christ" (1947), oil on canvas on plywood, 45 x 41 cm, Slendzinski Gallery, Bialystok.

Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

Director, Joyful Heart Renewal Ministries JesusWalk? Bible Study Series

JesusWalk? Publications PO Box 308, Rocklin, California 95677, USA

Copyright ? 2009, Ralph F. Wilson. All rights reserved. May not be copied or reproduced without explicit permission. To

reprint the entire study see: books/7-last-words.htm

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Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross

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Preface

By all accounts Jesus didn't do a lot of talking on the cross. He was silent during the hours he hung there, except for a very few words. But these Seven Last Words provide a window into Jesus' soul, a way to understand what is ultimately important to this One who is dying on the cross.

As I have studied and meditated on each Word,

trying to plumb the meaning of each saying, I have been touched by the awe of the scene on Golgotha that dark, foreboding Friday afternoon

James J. Tissot, "The Earthquake" (1886-1894), opaque watercolor, Brooklyn Museum.

as Jesus hung on the cross. I've learned, I think,

to understand him better ? his incredible love, his determination, his humanness as well as his

divinity, his intimate relationship with his Father, and finally his trust.

It isn't often that we can see with such clarity into a human being, especially Jesus the Son of God himself. But the looking inspires in us awe and changes us forever.

I encourage you to study these Seven Last Words one each day in a single week. The best might be during Holy Week, beginning on the Saturday before Palm Sunday and finishing on Good Friday itself. Some of you will use these meditations as the basis for a Good Friday service.

However you use them, don't rush through them. Let each of them simmer on the stove of your heart for a while so all the flavors begin to meld together into a unique and satisfying aroma.

Some are longer than others. I resisted the temptation to make them all the same length as if they were all equally significant. So savor all of these Seven Last Words from the cross, both the long and the short, that you may encounter Christ in them.

Spend some time thinking about the question for personal meditation that concludes each of the Words. In framing an answer, you'll find yourself stretched and sharpened as you begin to put into your own words thoughts that have remained only fuzzy in your mind until now.

I have illustrated each of these lessons with remarkable watercolors by James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), a French painter who spent the last two decades of his life visiting the Holy Land twice and producing some 700 illustrations of the Old Testament and the Gospels. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do.

Copyright ? 2009, Ralph F. Wilson. All rights reserved. May not be copied or reproduced beyond a single copy by the e-book owner without explicit permission. Reprint information: books/7-last-words.htm

Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross

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My prayer is that these Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross will bless you and draw you closer to the One who died for you and to the Father who sent his Son on this costly journey to redeem us.

Dr. Ralph F. Wilson March 23, 2009 "Wildwood," Loomis, California

Copyright ? 2009, Ralph F. Wilson. All rights reserved. May not be copied or reproduced beyond a single copy by the e-book owner without explicit permission. Reprint information: books/7-last-words.htm

Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross

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References and Abbreviations

BDAG

Walter Bauer and Frederick W. Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Third Edition; based on a previous English edition by W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich, and F.W. Danker; University of Chicago Press, 1957, 1979). This is the standard NT Greek-English Lexicon.

BDB

Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon

of the Old Testament (Clarendon Press, 1907)

Beasley- Murray

George R. Beasley-Murray, John (Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 36; Word, 1987)

Death

Raymond E. Brown, Death of the Messiah (Doubleday, 1994), volumes 1 and 2.

France

R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (New International Commentary on the New Testament; Eerdmans, 2007)

ISBE

Geoffrey W. Bromiley (general editor), The International Standard Bible

Encyclopedia (Eerdmans, 1979-1988; fully revised from the 1915 edition)

Life & Times Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (2 volume edition; Eerdmans, 1969, reprinted from the third edition, 1886)

Lane

William L. Lane, Commentary on the Gospel of Mark (New International

Commentary on the New Testament; Eerdmans, 1974)

Marshall

I. Howard Marshall, Commentary on Luke (New International Greek Testament Commentary; Eerdmans, 1978)

Merriam- Webster

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (Tenth Edition; Merriam-Webster, 1993)

Morris

Leon Morris, The Gospel According To John (New International Commentary on the New Testament; Eerdmans, 1971)

NIDNTT

Colin Brown (general editor), The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Zondervan, 1975-1978; translated with additions and revisions from Theologisches Begriffslexikon zum Neuen Testament, 1967-1971, three volume edition)

Copyright ? 2009, Ralph F. Wilson. All rights reserved. May not be copied or reproduced beyond a single copy by the e-book owner without explicit permission. Reprint information: books/7-last-words.htm

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Strack and Billerbeck TDNT

Thayer

H.L. Strack und P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch (M?nchen, 1956)

Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich (editors), Geoffrey W. Bromiley (translator and editor), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1964- 1976; translated from Theologisches W?rterbuch zum Neuen Testament, ten volume edition)

Joseph Henry Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Associated Publishers and Authors, n.d., reprinted from 1889 edition, used in electronic form)

Copyright ? 2009, Ralph F. Wilson. All rights reserved. May not be copied or reproduced beyond a single copy by the e-book owner without explicit permission. Reprint information: books/7-last-words.htm

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